Rockonomics 101

In January 1998 Tony Scalzo was still working the graveyard shift at The Bagel Manufactory in Austin. Although he was in his thirties and slaving in front of a hot oven for little more than minimum wage, he rarely complained. He’d often talk of how the solitude gave him a chance to think and to listen to long stretches of public radio. If he was truly disappointed that fifteen years as a professional musician hadn’t led to much more than a great recipe for cinnamon-raisin bagels, he wasn’t letting on. Then again, not even Scalzo could have imagined that within four months he and his bandmates in Fastball would be chatting on Jay Leno’s couch or offering guitar lessons to Conan O’Brien. But that’s just what happened. By March “The Way”—Scalzo’s single about a missing elderly couple from Salado—was already one of the year’s most unavoidable hits, a staple of pop radio, MTV, and VH1.

Fastball’s fast ascent had all the makings of a fairy tale: down-on-their-luck heroes, hard work, and a happy ending. In fact, if the band’s rags-to-riches story line echoes Cinderella’s, it’s wholly appropriate, since both were hatched on the same studio lot in Burbank, California. Disney-owned Hollywood Records discovered them in 1995, stuck with them after the commercial failure of their debut album, Make Your Mama Proud, and helped make “The Way” a radio smash. After only six months, the full-length album on which the song appeared, All the Pain Money Can Buy, sold its millionth copy—no small feat, since less than one percent of the albums released in 1998 went platinum that same year. Even more impressive, Fastball’s platinum certification was the first by a Hollywood artist in the label’s eight-year history and the first by an Austin act since 1988 (not counting the late Stevie Ray Vaughan).

The upshot of such success is that Fastball is a global business enterprise, one that has generated millions of dollars in revenue for Disney. The band itself stands to earn millions too, only not as fast as you might think. One of rock and roll’s most enduring myths is that once you hit it big, you’re immediately showered with the kind of cash pocketed by showbiz icons and pro sports heroes. That may be true for longtime superstars like Garth Brooks or Madonna or the Rolling Stones, but far more often rock stardom and financial stability are two distinct concepts—a lesson the members of Fastball have been forced to learn as they go along.

Although the music industry accommodates dozens of business models, there are three main methods for a band to make money. Scores of books and seminars attempt to explain the intricate details of each one, but the basic concepts aren’t nearly as complicated as the business managers, attorneys, and accountants would lead you to believe:

Record Deals By design, major league recording contracts place the record